


Something, Everything

by ForYouIAmRomy



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Caring, F/M, Fluff, Oathkeepers Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForYouIAmRomy/pseuds/ForYouIAmRomy
Summary: Something had changed, he knew.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37
Collections: Oathkeepers Secret Santa 2019





	Something, Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [siinquisitor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/siinquisitor/gifts).



> This is my Secret Santa gift for siinquisitor - I really hope you like it!  
> A bit of fluff and taking care of each other, which could be either be show or book canon (it's more a mix)
> 
> This is my first fanfiction for ASOIAF as well as the JaimexBrienne ship and I hope I did them justice. Maybe I will write more for them in the future because I enjoy Jaime's snarkiness too much ;)
> 
> Set after the rescue from the bear pit.

Something, Everything

She was still wearing that pink atrocity. He couldn't even call it a dress anymore the way it hung off her body, soaked in her blood and ripped into strips of fabric. It certainly hadn't been a pretty sight before, when it was still whole and sitting unfitting on the wench's body, but now the remains of it looked downright horrible. Still, it was the thing that Jaime focused on as Brienne of Tarth rode beside him. The absurd picture of her, her broad shoulders slumped, her head held down, her thighs only barely gripping onto the horse to hold herself upright in the saddle, oddly comforted him. She was there. She was with him and she was safe. But all things considered, the wench looked exhausted. He couldn't help but to glance her way every so often out of the corner of his eye. She looked like he himself felt, like both of them had aged ten years in their short but taxing journey together.

Something had changed, he knew.

Sometimes when Jaime wasn't quick enough to turn his head away from the wench as he was quietly regarding her, she would catch his glance and the skin of her cheeks would turn the same colour as the ruins of fabric that he was hesitant to call a dress. She then would quietly advert her eyes and Jaime almost wished she would look at him a bit longer, for her clear blue eyes beautifully sparkled with life. He _almost_ wished it, for Jaime was never quite sure what he would find in her eyes. Would it be anger, defiance, tenderness or something else entirely?

As the King's Road continued on before them and the sky slowly began to get a soft red tint that signaled the beginning of the upcoming night, the wench's posture quickly changed as she hunched her shoulders and her plump lips began to clatter and shiver, as well as her whole body. Of course. As much as she would surely deny it, even Brienne of Tarth sometimes would feel weakness from something so mundane as the weather. Winter was truly upon them, that much was certain. But as all of their unlikely road companions had left Harrenhal for good earlier, Jaime had received a coat against the cold, while the ungainly lady had not. Of course. He was the prisoner of value. Brienne of Tarth was nothing to them.

When Jaime on an impulse stopped the whole group and demanded to make camp for the night, they all had to agree grumbling and Jaime was relieved that he could at least still bark orders and didn't already lose his touch at commanding people.

The next thing he knew he had a long coat in his unharmed left hand, which he had previously snatched away from one larger man of the group, under protest from the man of course, but Jaime couldn't care less, as he walked over to the big wench while she was finishing to unsaddling her horse.

She didn‘t recognize him approach her as she immediately threw her arms around her torso in a weak attempt to hold onto the warmth of her own body, but Jaime, carefully and clumsily with his one remaining hand, put the woolen piece of fabric that he held around her shoulders to cloak her.

To say that the wench was surprised would be an understatement because she whipped her head around to face him so fast that she almost bumped her head into his own, while her eyes, large and bright as sapphires, focused on him. The surprised look was getting so intense after a while that Jaime had to turn his own eyes away quickly.

"Can't let my protector die here of the cold, can I, wench?"

"My name is -"

"Brienne of Tarth, I know, I only lost my hand, not my hearing or my memory, my lady. And since I so very heroically saved the damsel out of her distress on this fine day, I will take the freedom to call you whatever I want, _wench_. It is only fair that I do so, don't you agree?"

Jaime saw that the same pink colour as earlier rose to the wench's cheeks, only this time in obvious anger. Jaime would never admit it, but he liked to provoke the woman if this bit of colour on her face that was wandering down her chest was the result of it. He briefly thought of her bare skin, that he could partly see through the destroyed dress, where he knew freckles spread out as the stars did in the sky. Jaime chided himself inwardly.

"If you would've insisted on taking me with you in the first place, _Ser_ , you hadn't have come back and save me."

Brienne spat out. The way she said those words made clear to him that Brienne was annoyed by the idea of being saved by anyone, though Jaime wondered if this behaviour was meant to cover up her true feelings, since she seemed actually surprised and happy to see him landing in the bear pit earlier that day.

"Is that so? But why would it be my responsibility to take you with me in the first place? You are neither my sister nor my wife and I have no obligation to help you. Or are you possibly a secret Lannister?"

_No. I needed to get her. I dreamed of her._

"I know I am none of those." Brienne said bitterly, obviously ignoring his last mocking question, "But we both have an oath to fulfill and I will do everything in my power to live up to that oath and expect you to do the same. And either way, I can't leave you alone with...those people after what their companions did to you, can I?"

Again, she fixated on him intensely, blue flames dancing in her eyes and Jaime felt as though he was staring at a wild animal. He certainly would lose if he was the first to move or look away. Jaime said nothing, and even if he wanted to, his lips were frozen from the early winter cold and surprise. She truly was his protector and one of a kind. Never had Jaime seen a person as stupidly loyal as she was. This loyalty would get her into serious trouble one day, he was sure of that.

But nevertheless, a comfortably warm feeling that Jaime never knew before began to spread from his chest down to his toes and even his closed lips began to unfreeze and melt and a response began to form on them. But before Jaime could speak some words that would've likely betrayed his former brusque behaviour where Brienne of Tarth was concerned, the lady herself blinked, averted her eyes again and the moment was over.

"Thank you for helping me, Ser Jaime. Truly." she almost whispered, still looking away from him.

"You're welcome. _Wench_. I always repay my debts."

Jaime couldn't help himself and smiled triumphantly at that and was happy to see that the corners of her large mouth began to lift. And even though he liked to make her smile a little, for that was the first time he had truly had seen her smile, Jaime couldn't tell if he preferred this mood between them or arguing with her.

Arguing and fighting with the Maid of Tarth seemed easier and more straightforward, while this kind of conversation was uncertain and loaded with things that Jaime could not name. It was all easier when they were still sword fighting, he thought.

_Gods, he longed to dance with her again in battle._

"Well, my lady. We surely need to get you some new clothes soon, or you will be forced to wander to King's Landing as naked as the day you were born and we can't have that, can we? I would surely get jealous if anyone else would have a glimpse of you," he couldn't help but tease.

Jaime grinned mischievously and Brienne's cheeks turned the unique shade of pink for the third time that day. Absurdly, looking at her flushed face this third time...it made his chest constrict. It evoked a distant memory.

He remembered a time, when he was still a little boy at Casterly Rock, when he swallowed his hot meal too fast in his greed. He had been running around the castle all day long, playing the gallant knight with a wooden sword in both of his hands, _both of his hands_ , and his sweet sister playing his very own fair maiden. He had been chasing and fighting invisible monsters for her, like he always did. And in the evening he had been so famished that he had swallowed the hot meal in front of him fast and without chewing, which made his chest suddenly begin to burn and Jaime's body's natural response was to choke. After a few seconds of fighting for breath, Lord Tywin had grabbed him, the stupid young boy that he had been, and had pressed on his chest so hard that Jaime had vomited his stomach‘s contents onto the floor of Casterly Rock‘s great hall. "No Lannister will die because he cannot eat his food properly," his father had said.

Strangely, the feeling that began to settle in his chest now felt like that. His chest constricted, and there was simply not enough air to breathe.

In this very moment Jaime felt afraid. This _something_ between them...began to unsettle him.

_But it is nothing. Once I‘m home, once I‘m with Cersei again, this madness will be over. Everything will be as it was, everything will be alright._

When Jaime abruptly turned to leave, for his instinct was to flee from the situation, and began to walk back to the camp where the other men were already preparing a fire, he almost bumped into Qyburn, the mysterious not-quite-maester of Roose Bolton. The dubious healer truly was someone a sensible man was not supposed to trust, but Jaime had to admit that he at least had to _try_ and trust him for the time being. After all, he was not in the process of dying anymore because of him. Though, Jaime thought, that was more Brienne‘s accomplishment, than Qyburn‘s, when she had told him to live. _Brienne_. He didn‘t want to think of her anymore.

Qyburn said nothing but Jaime could tell that he had heard the conversation and that some kind of comment was already on the way to the man‘s mouth.

"Speak, Qyburn, you look like you want to say something snide."

"On the contrary, my lord, I just wanted to ask if the lady needs to receive medical treatment."

Jaime briefly thought of what Qyburn had told him earlier. How he had touched the maid inappropriately. He was not feeling comfortable with the thought of Qyburn treating her wounds, but they had no other choice.

Jaime sighed and nodded, apparently unable to escape the thought and sight of Brienne of Tarth. It would be a long ride until they reached King‘s Landing and he somehow had to deal with her and his own thoughts of her.

"Look after her if you must. I think she has some flesh wounds that need treatment if the state of her hideous dress and her neck are any indication.“

Qyburn only gave a slight smile and was already on his way over to Brienne with his medical bag in tow, when he turned his head back to Jaime.

"Truly a valiant deed to save the Lady Brienne out of her misery in the bear pit. Worthy of a knight of your caliber. I wonder if this is a story many men will tell each other around campfires. 'The Bear and the Maiden Fair‘ and the gallant knight.“

While talking, Qyburn‘s smile had turned positively indecent, even by Jaime‘s standards.

"Are you mocking me?“

"Of course not, Ser Jaime. Though, I am wondering how that old song went on in the last part? For the life of me, I cannot remember...“

Jaime only glared at him and in the distance the men sang " _She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair, but he licked the honey from her hair. Her hair! Her hair! He licked the honey from her hair..._ “

**Author's Note:**

> \- I am fascinated with the time between the bear-rescue and the arrival in King's Landing, because we only know so little about how they behaved around each other after that or what they talked about
> 
> \- I later realized that the title are the same words that Jaime and Cersei talk about in GoT4x01  
> "Something has changed."  
> "Everything has changed!"  
> Oops. Haha.
> 
> \- The line about "secret Lannister" is a nod to GoT 4x01 where Jaime asked Brienne "Are you SURE you are not a Lannister?" I always felt like Jaime did ask her that mock-question before so I incorporated that in here
> 
> \- I really wanted to include 'The Bear and the Maiden Fair' song in there and Qyburn embarrassing Jaime was just too much fun


End file.
